With a Capital EM: Happy Hallowienie!

The second I spotted the hot dog costume I knew it had to be mine.
Okay, well not so much mine as Yeti’s.
(And before you ask yourself “is she really writing about her dog again?” I’ll remind you that I haven’t written about Yeti since June and he’s the cutest dog in the world.)
Anyway, the hot dog costume — it’s a winner and also the first piece of Halloween garb I bought this season so it was exciting on many levels.
You see, when it comes to the best of autumn, I have a hard time narrowing it down. Autumn is my favorite season. It contains all of the best parts of life — sweater weather, my birthday, my anniversary and Halloween — the best holiday of them all.
I mean when else can a self-respecting adult wear a yellow dress and party hat and call herself a bottle of mustard? Exactly. It’s the amazing combination of quirky and fun and mini-sized chocolate bars.
Luckily, I married someone who feels the same way, so when I walked into the house with the hot dog costume, my better half assumed we were throwing a Halloween party. Instead of correcting him I simply sent out an e-vite to 200 of our closest friends.
In full party-planning mode I set out to buy more pieces of Halloween decorations and plan a spooktacular menu. And then something happened.
I walked in from work one day to find a very sick Yeti. Typically a dramatic person, I thought, “well maybe he’s fine and I just think he’s sick.” A few phone calls to more experienced dog owners and I knew something was wrong.
I grabbed my pup and headed to the Michigan State University emergency vet. By the time I hit Grand River Avenue I had lost it. Poor Yeti just wasn’t himself.
Matt rushed to the clinic and met us there just in time to find out that Yeti had likely contracted a parasite while we were visiting our cabin up north. He would have to be on meds for a few days, but he’d be fine.
Although it turned out to be a minor incident, Yeti’s sudden onset illness was just one of life’s little reminders not to take anything for granted.
The best part of autumn this year is going to be watching my pup play in the leaves for the first time and of course, watching him hate his life when he’s dressed as a hot dog in front of 200 party guests.